Vogue 8945 with Lace Sleeves

Back when the weather was still cold, I stumbled upon a remnant of purple lace at Tessuti fabrics. Below I've got a close up of the fabric drying on the line alongside the coordinating stretch viscose I paired it with, and you can see the pretty patterns in the lace, but what you can't see is the straight edged selvedges on the lace.

The lace remnant was too small for a dress, large enough for a small top perhaps, but the perfect amount for a pair of bell sleeves with the selvedges in place of sleeve hems, woohoo! Aren't those selvedges cool!! 

Vogue 8945 is a semi-fitted dress with two views: view A (this one) with bell sleeves, and view B with layered sleeve flounces.  I made view B of this dress for Melbourne frocktails a few years ago (see dress post here, and post for the related cape here), and I'd been keen to give view A with its simpler bell sleeves a go ever since.  V8945 is a good pattern for a statement sleeve - the dress itself is very plain, so the sleeves really get to star.

Speaking of sleeves that star, I entered these very sleeves in Helen and Diane's sleevefest2017  competition back in August (before I'd tried the dress on though!) and won a prize courtesy of Ryliss Bod - I won a copy of The Minott Method Total Pattern Fit. Have you heard of it? I hadn't, but it's basically a very comprehensive fitting manual.  I've skimmed through the book (so time poor these days!) and it also has fitting tips in the form of handy wrinkle diagrams telling you what the various wrinkles mean - I will definitely be using those diagrams. 

Hmm. And unfortunately, although this dress is one I adored on the hanger, on taking these photos I discovered it was a sausage casing dress. Isn't photography a killjoy! And it turns out the prize is very apt for a dress that fits this badly :(. 

I've deleted most of the sausage photos, but I'm willing to share one piece of proof with you:

This pattern is recommended to be sewn in a faille, crepe, challis or linen - so a woven fabric with some drape I guess? but both times I've made it I've used something quite different, and to do the pattern justice the dress really needs a drapey fabric OR a looser fit.

First time around I used a bonded polyester for the sheath dress and a combination of merino wool, more of the bonded polyester and silk organza for the sleeves - that version was a much more successful incarnation of the pattern, most likely because this dress size was a looser fit on me back then:

The two dresses are the same size (12 top half, 14 bottom half), but those couple of years apparently resulted in a couple of extra kilos, so even though I'm crazy about the sleeves, this dress hasn't had a single wear since being made (hangs head in shame).

The sausage casing factor is not so obvious in the shade, but shade isn't something you can rely on here in Sydney. It looks fine in these next two photos, right?

Gah I do wish I'd checked my measurements before cutting into the fabric! 

I'm keeping this dress for next winter - just in case I shrink a little or the dress grows a little - but next time I sew I'm definitely getting out the measuring tape first!

Happy sewing and see you soon

- Gabrielle xx 

Lace Dress, Vintage Style (Vogue 1136)

Vogue 1136, a vintage pattern re-issue from an original 1945 design, is to my mind quite a classy shape.  It's supposed to be lower calf-length, which I guess is fashionable, but I wasn't sure... and I was using the (trimmed) scalloped selvedge edge in lieu of a skirt hem so once cut there was no going back.

So my version is a little shorter than the pattern specifies.  I also left out the back skirt pleats because I didn't think they'd work so well in lace.  For a bit of ease I added some mini pleats in the skirt at the points that lined up with the bodice darts. I love the V-shaped bands on the back... I hope you can see them:

And I love the neckline, and the long bodice darts:

I made this dress in an incredible rush for a function last night.  We left the house late because I was still sewing when we should have been out the door!  Luckily I'd made muslins of the bodice and skirt and didn't have complicated adjustments to make. However, I left  the side zip till last and as a consequence it's
a bit wonky-looking (and needs to be repositioned in the skirt):

Possibly I need to take in the skirt as well: the left-hand photo shows the skirt when I hold it in a little, and the photo on the right shows the skirt left to its own devices and looking quite wide:

These are only minor and definitely fixable problems of my own making, and I'm happy with this dress!

I should give you more of the details I guess and not just show you pictures :-)

The pattern is V1136 of course, and as this is a vintage re-issue it fits as per modern sizing.  I muslined the bodice really carefully but found the straight size 12 was perfect for me with just a little extra width at the waist. I guess if you have a large bust or broad shoulders this pattern might be a bit tricky to adjust though. I muslined the skirt in a rush and just ended up making this a little wider than a size 12 for the full length of my skirt - but the skirt shape is very straightforward when the back pleats are removed, and it'll be easy to take it in later.  I think this would look great in a solid colour, as the lines get a bit lost in the lace detail and would similarly get lost in a busy print.  It's recommended for fabrics like crepe, wool jersey or peau de soie.

Here are the pattern envelope technical drawings for V1136 - the jacket would be nice too:
 

My fabric is a lace that I bought at the Fabric Shop in Surry Hills, Sydney. I don't know what sort of lace this is classified as - maybe someone can educate me! It's machine made (very regular looking), it has a definite top vs underside, two scalloped selvedge edges that can be trimmed to the scallop shapes, and the floral patterns on the fabric are outlined in an embroidery stitch.

I used less than 2 metres of the lace fabric (phew - that's all I had) and less than 2 m of burdandy coloured lining fabric to make my slightly streamlined V1136.  I underlined the bodice in the lining fabric, and I also used the lining to make a free hanging under skirt with French seams. I did consider using an underlining as well as a lining but thought this may have become a bit bulky and hard to keep smooth in sewing the layers together. As it was, for the bodice I basted all the edges of each piece before doing any of the real sewing - this worked well; otherwise I think the lace would have stretched and moved a lot while being sewn up. Sewing with lace definitely takes some planning, so I read up on a lot of techniques before starting this.  If anyone would like more information about how this dress went together or what my OOP Reader's Digest compendium says about sewing with lace, underlining, fitting etc please let me know.